Hoist



May `15, 1923.

1,455,369, H. S. VALENTINE I HOIST Filed Jan. 51. 1922 3 Sheets-Sheet, l

May 15, 1923.

H. S. VALENTINE HOIST Filed Jan.

51, 1922 s sheets-sheet 2 FJGL May 15, 1923.

H. S. VALENTINE HOIST Filed Jan. 3l. 1922 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 HERBERT S.'VALENT1NE, 0F PHTLLADELHEA, ?ENNSY&VNA;

H'GIST Application l'led January 3l, 1922. Serial No. 532,9'l5.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that l, HERBERT S. VALEN- 'r1NE, a citizen of the UnitedStates, and a resident ot the city ci Philadelphia, in the county ornPhiladelphia and State of Penn- Sylvania, have invented certain newanduseful improvements in Hoists, of which the following is aspecilication.

lily invention relates to hoisting,r devices and particularly to thosehoists which depend trom and are arranged to travel upon an overheadtrack, and 'further to those hoists in which the loadblock is operatedby an electric motor mounted upon the carriage, and the'carriage issuspended from a rail or beam, the lower flanges ot which i'orm thetrack for the carriage wheels.

rll'here is a 'marked tendency in modern building construction to reduceto its smallest dimension the distance between the floors oit a factorybuilding, with the result that in many buildings the low head roomraises a serious obstacle of the installation and to the use of overheadtraveling hoists', because the carriage of ordinary hoists, and theparts mounted thereon, depend for aconsiderable distance below thetracks upon which the' carriage is mounted. The matter ot one foot inheadroom will often prevent the successful installation and use ot' anoverhead travelling hoist particularly of the mono-rail type.

The amount of lift obtainable .from an overhead mono-rail travellinghoist is necessarily limited or reduced by two factors, namely, (l)vertical-height of the beam Iwhich constitutes the track or tracks onwhich the carriageftravels, and (2)Y the length of the load-block, butin the lloists .as heretofore constructed the `vertical liftV is stillfurther reduced by the interposition of the carriage and parts mountedthereon between the rail and the block.

The object of my invention is to so construct and arrange a travellinghoist that the vertical `lift is increased to the full height of theroom, less the vertical height of the rail constituting the track andthe ylength of the load-block, that is t0 say, to provide a constructionin which the loadblock may be lifted vertically until the top thereofalmost touches the underside of the track rail. Y

further object ofmy invention is to rovi-de a hoist wherein the greatestpossililo lift is obtainable with a given headroom.-

.moves 'vertically directly underneath the track, and between the motorand the windingr drum, to and from a position where the pulley or'topmost portion loli'the'-lifting block just clears, withouttouchini,lle underside of 'the track raillg. i" l f` A further object ot.inyfinvention, is to provide in 'the carriagelfo'f'atravelling hoist aclear spacebeneath v'the trae/lr into lWlimln.

the loadfbloclr may "beiraised` and :lowered without interference :tromthe winding drum, the motor, or thegearingftherebef tween.

A further 'object of my invention is. to

mount the winding drum and thegmotorffor supplying the power to operateSaidQdrum.,

on the carriage ot a mono-rail electric hoist that the two parts of thehoist on opposite sides of a plane passing, verticallythrough the middlelongitudinal line of the track or tracks are substantially balanced.

A further object of my invention istojso arrange and position on thecarriage the winding drum and the anchor for the hoisting cable. thatthe continued rotation of the driim. will lift the 1oadbloclr until thetop of the said block almost touches7 but just 'l clears,'th e undersideof the track rail.

Other objects of my invention will appear in the specification andclaims below.

In the drawings forming a part of this specification and in which thesame ,reiter ence characters are used throughout the various views todesignate the same parts, Fig. l is a side elevational view of myimproved electric hoist mounted. upon an beam constituting the track ofa mono-rail hoist. v

- Fig. 2 is a similar view of the opposite side of the device shown inFig. 1, and showing the lift-block dropped somewhat below thepositionsh'own in Fig. 1. Y

Fig. 3 is' a transverse sectional view on the line 3--3 of Fig. 5 themotor being omitted, and its position indicated in doteferring now tothe drawings in which is illustrated one embodiment ofV my inventionthere is provided an I-beam 1 adapted to be secured to the ceiling orother suitable support, the web2 thereof being vei'-, tical and thelower flanges 3-3 constituting the track or tracks upon which travel thewheels or rollers 4:, turning on axles 5 rigidly mounted in the upperpart of thecarria-ge 6. ln suitable bearings 7-7 in the carriage ismounted the shaft 8 of the winding drum 9 the axis of said shaft 8 beingarranged preferably parallel to the tracks 3 3 of the Lbeam 1. 0n abracket 10 and on the opposite side of a vertical plane 11 passing'through the middle longitudinal line of the tracks 33 provided by the-be-am 1, is an electric motor 12, which may be of any Well-known andapproved type and construction. The shaft of this motor 12 is providedwith a pinion 13 which through a suitable tra-in 14 of spur gearing isIadapted to drive the spur gear 15 rigidly secured to one end of thewinding drum shaft 8. This train 14n of gearing will include a loweringbrake 16 of any approved type, such, for instance, as one of the Westontype. |This `Weston lowering brake mechanism is a Wellknown constructionand will need no further description in connection withi this invention.rllhe construction of such a brake is indicated in my U. S. LettersPatent No. 1,058,497 granted April 8,1913.

The opposite end of the. main shaft of the motor 12 may beand isprovided with a solenoid brake 17 of any well-known and approvedconstruction the function thereof being'to apply the brakes to holdtheload suspended when thevpower is shut od'. @ne

type of such solenoid brake is also fullv illustrated in my abovementioned Letters Patent. The train 14 of rotation gearing is mountedupon one end of thev carriage 6 and is preferably enclosed in a suitablehousing 18.

The wlnding drum 9 is preferably provided with two sets of helicalgrooves 19-19 each set respectively covering one half of the surface ofthe drum and inclined or pitched in opposite directions. The two freeends ofA the hoisting cable 2O are respectively secured tothe ends ofthe winding drum 9 and lie in the outermost convolutions of' the`grooves s matic.

19-1-19. This cable 20 has therefore a loop or bight therein midwaybetween theends thereof, at which point it passes around an equalizingpulley 21 mounted in a yoke 22 rigidly bolted or secured to the carriage6, this pulley and yoke forming an anchor 23 on the carriage for themiddle loop of the cable. rllhe two stretches of the cable between thesurface of the winding drum 9 and the anchor 23 pass under two pulleysor sheaves 24 of the load-block 25 which, in addition to the saidpulleys. comprises the stud or shaft 26,1upon which the said sheaves aremounted to rotate, the guar'd I27 and the yoke'28 in which theshat't- 26is rigidly mounted, and from which depends the preferably swiveledload-hook 29.' lt is to be understood however that this load-block 25may be of any suitable two sheave type and construction, but it ispreferably one in which the overall vertical dimension is as short as itcan be made, consistent with.

strength and flexibility of the cable to be used in the hoist. ntheopposite end of the Carriage 6 there is mounted t-he usual controller 30for the motor, operated by suita-ble controlling ropes'or cable 31depending therefromand by which the speed and direction in which themotor 12 shall rotate is controlled and regulated. Upon the end of theshaft 8 oppositelto that on which the gear 15 is mounted and .within thehousing of the controller 30 there may be provided anl adjustable upperand lower limit switch 32 which may be set to automatically stop theoperation of the motor 12 when the block has been raised to itsuppermost position and also when the cable has been unwound from thedrum to any extent desired. This switch 32 may be of any well-known andapproved construction, the showing in the drawings of this specificationbeing merely diagram-v The mechanism is such that when the traveler 33,mountedv upon a'screw 34 secured to the shaft 8, reachesa pre-determinedposition due to the rotation of the shaft' 8 in one direction. it'breaks the electric circuit by means of which the` electric motor 12 isdriven. and when the traveler 33 moves in/ the opposite direction to apredetermined position, due to the 4rotation of the shaft 8 intheopposite direction, the circuit is also broken for the same purpose.

From the-above it will now b'e apparent that the winding drum 9 and theImotor 12 aremounted on opposite sides of' a plane 11%11' passing midwayvertically through the @beam 1 and midway between the tracks 3, and thatthese heavy parts are so disposed that they tend to balance the carriageand parts carriedvtherebv on each'side ot said plane. This constructionalso provides a considera-ble space between the winding 'out of contactwith the under side ofithe' ilanges 3 of the I-beam l.

In order thatv said block 25 may be lifted to such position, the axis ofthe winding shaft 8 is located in the carriage 6 above a lhorizontallane lwhich is below the plane of the un( er surface of the I-bcam adistance not greater than the radii of the pulleys or sheaves 24 of theload-block 25. As above stated the axis of the winding shaft 8 ispreferably parallel to the track 3 3 and therefore it is located on oneside of the vertical plane 11 and at a distance therefromnot less andpreferably a little more than' the sum of the radii of the drum 9 and asheave pulley 24:. The electric motor 12 is also so located that theinner side of the outside casing or lining thereof is spaced from saidvertical plane by a distance sufficient to prevent any contact therewithof the cable 2() between the anchor 23 and the sheave pulleys 24.

The electric motor 12 is also spaced from the middle vertical plane 1lof the tracks at 'a distance not less than the radius of a sheavepulley-24, or one-half the width of the loadblock 25, so that at alltimes it will be out of contact with the load-block and that stretch ifthe cable between the load-block and the anchor 23. In this way a freespace is provided in the carriage between the motor and the winding drumand underneath the I- beam 1 and tracks 3 suiiiciently wide toperneither the controller 30 of the motor nor the housing 18 for thegearing 14 between the motor 12 and the winding drum 9 extend below theunderside of the I-beam 1 a distance substantially greater than theltotal length of the load-block 25. No part of the carriage or the rigidparts mounted thereon, will interfere with the clear rise of theloadblock 20, to apoint where it almost touches the track beam. No partof the carriage depends below the load-hook 29, when the loadblock 25 islifted to its highest position.

By reason of the construction and arrangement above described, I am ableto effect, in a hoist of the mono-rail type, the greatest vertical liftpossible, with a given head room and the increase in thel lift overtha-t obtainable in other hoists of this type is very substantial. Thus,for al two-ton hoist of the` ordinary mono-rail type, the hook of theload-block cannot be I raised higher than ,Y

within about 42 inches from the underside of the rail, and generally,this distance is considerably greater, up to 40 or 53 inches. In myconstruction, however, the load-hook of a hoist of the same capacity canbe readily lifted to within 11 inches of the underside of the rail. Thisincreased lift of from 31 to 42 inches over that obtainable in theordinary hoist becomes very important whenever the head-room is low.

It is to be understood that the carriage and the parts mounted thereon,including the electric motor, the winding drum, the controller, and thegearing, constitute the rigid parts ofthe hoist', and that these vrigidparts usuallyc decrease the lift obtainable from a hoist by reason oftheir disposition on the carriage. In my improved hoist, none of theseparts depend below the underside of the rail a distance substantiallygreater than the length of the load-block. i It is'not to be understood,however, that my improved hoist maynot be provided with the usual ropes,cables or chains depending from the (ontroller to a point wit-hineasy'reach from the floor,.but such controller cables or chains areflexible and can be readily swung or deiectcd to any suitable position.out of the way of any object which may be swung from .the hook oranything below the carriage.

Having thus described my invention what I claim and desireto protect byLetters Patent of the United States is: 1. In a mono-rail hoist thecombination of an overhead mono-rail track, a carriage dependingtherefrom and adapted to travel on the lower flange thereof, aload-block and i means mounted on said carriage to raise and lower saidblock in a vertical path directly under said track to and from aposition wherein the top of said block is immediately below but out ofcontact with the under side of said track, no rigid part of saidcarriage or the parts carried thereby depending below said track adistance substantially greater than the height of said block.

2. In a mono-rail hoist comprisin a mono-rail track, a carriagesuspended roln said track and adapted to travel thereon, the

combination of a winding drum, a hoisting .cable secured thereto, ananchor for Said cable, a load-block comprising a pulley restingI in thebight of said cable between said drum and said anchor and hangin-directly beneath said track, said drum an said anchor being mounted onsaid carriage on opposite sides of a vertical plane in which lies themiddle longitudinal line of said' track, and providing between themaclear space for the vertical travel of said block up to substantiallythe under side ofsaid track the 'axis v'of said drum being horizontaland located above a horizontal plane located be' low the under side ofsaid track a distance not substantially greater than the radius of saidpulley and means mounted on said carriage. to rotate said winding drum.

3. ln a hoist comprising a mono-rail track, a carriage depending from.said track, the combination of a winding drum, a cable attached to saiddrum, an anchorage on said carriage for said cable and a blockcomprising a pulley and hook mounted in the bight of said cable, saiddrum and said anchorage being onopposite sides of a vertical plane inwhich lies the middle longitudinal line of said track and spaced apart adistance substantially equal to the diaineter of said pulley, the axisof said drum and said anchorage being above a plane passing horizontallyunder said track at a distance not substantially greater than the radiusof said pulley, and sald carriage providing an open space extendingvertically therethrough below said "track of a size to permit theentrance of said pulley therein, no part of said carriage extendingbelow said rail a distance substantially greater than the length of saidblock.

4. In a 'hoist comprisingy an overhead mono-rail track a carriagesuspended from said trackand adapted to travel thereon, the combinationof a winding drurn the axis of which is parallel to the track, mountedin said carriage on one side of a vertical plane in which lies themiddle longitudinal line of said track, a cable secured to said drum, an

' anchorage on said carriage for said cable and located on the oppositeside of said vertical plane, a block having a pulley and hook suspendedon said cable between said anchorage and said drum, a motor mounted onsaid carriage on said opposite side ol said vertical plane and'operative to balance the weight of said drum gearing for transmittingpower from motor to said drum, said gearing being mounted on one end ofsaid carriage and a housing enclosing said gearing, said winding drumand anchorage being spaced apart horizontally a distance substantiallyequal to the diameter of said pulley and said cartriage bein providedwith a clear space vertically su stantially therethrough beneath saidtrack, no rigid part of said carriage depending below the plane of theunderside Lacasse of said trackia distance length of said block.

5. In a hoist comprising a mono-rail` track, a carriage dependingtherefrom and mounted to travel thereon, the combination of a windingdrinn:` mounted on said carria e with its axis parallel m said track, ananc or secured to said carriage, a cable secured to said drum and anchorand depending in a bight therebetween, a load-block provided'with apnlleyriding in said bight, a motor, and means to transmit the power ofsaid inotor to said drum, said drum being on one side and said motor andanchor on the opposite side of a vertical plane in which is the middlelongitudinal line of said track, and providing between them a clear'space beneath said track of a width greater than the width of saidblock and the axis ofsaid greater than they ydrum beingabove ahorizontal plane spaced 'from the underside of said track by a distancenot substantially greater than the radius of said pulley.

6. .ln a hoist comprising a mono-rail track, a carriage dependingtherefrom, land mounted to travelthereon, the combination with a windingdrum mounted on said carriage with its axis parallel to said track, ananchor secured VVto said carriage, a cable secured to said drum andanchor and depending in the bight therebetween, a load-block providedwith a pulley riding in said bight,

a motor, and means to transmltrthe power of said motor to said drum,said-drum being on one side and said motor and anchor being on theopposite side of a vertical plane in which is the middle longitudinalline of said track, said anchor being spaced horizontally from saidplane at a distancegreater than the radius of said pulley, the axis. ofthe drum being spaced horizontally from said vertical plane a distancegreater than the sum of the radii of said drum and pulley and above ahorizontal plane spaced from the under side of said track by a distancenot substantially greater than the radins of said pulley.

ln Witness whereof, l have hereunto set my hand this 27th day ofJanuary, 1922.

HERBERT S. VALENTNE.

